DHS Offering Free Paternity Tests

If you visit Mississippi’s Department of Human Services’ website, you’ll find pictures of people wanted for failing to pay child support.  It’s part of DHS’s push to hold Mississippi father’s accountable for their children.

The state hopes offering free paternity tests will encourage more potential dads to step forward and take responsibility, if that responsibility is theirs.

But the state is also looking to increase child support collections, which will help Mississippi maintain federal funding for the new fiscal year.

DHS is paying for DNA tests, which can cost between $300 to $500.  It’s also covering attorney fees that can increase the costs of testing to more than $1,000.

The costs and fees will be waived on scheduled days through the end of the month, which wraps up the federal government’s fiscal year.

“It takes all the guesswork out and all the assuming,“ said Carvin Smith, who supports the plan.  “By doing a paternity test, he finds out whether he’s the father or not.“

“It should help those that can’t afford to pay for a paternity test, and I believe that is very good,“ said Sandra Bernard, who also supports the plan. 

But some people we talked with don’t think the government should pay for this program when state revenue is down, and Governor Haley Barbour is making budget cuts.

But DHS says that’s the point - to make sure Mississippi gets the federal funding it needs to help children in the state..